This invention relates in general to rack mounting of electronic units in enclosure cabinets, and more specifically to apparatus for assisting the installation of such a unit to the cabinet.
Electronic enclosure cabinets, which are often referred to as rack mount systems, are used for mounting various electronic modules in a stackable configuration. The electronic devices mounted within the electronic enclosure cabinet are those typically utilized in a data center for telecommunications, electronics, and computer industries.
A standard electronic enclosure cabinet (e.g., constructed according to the ANSI/EIA 310 specification) consists of two parallel metal strips extending vertically at the front corners of the electronic enclosure cabinet. A plurality of apertures are formed in each of the metal strips at matching intervals.
Electronic modules mounted to the electronic enclosure cabinet typically include a flanged face plate having apertures on the flanged portion of the face plate. The apertures in the face plate align with apertures in the metal strips. Fasteners inserted through the mating apertures of the face plate and respective metal strips secure the electronic modules to the electronic enclosure cabinet. The electronic modules typically have the same standard width (e.g., 19 inches) so that the apertures in the face plate align with the apertures of the metal strips. The heights of the electronic modules, however, may vary. As a result of the varying height of various electronic modules mounted within an electronic enclosure cabinet, shelving is not utilized so that the stacking of the electronic modules may be optimized. Otherwise, wasted space may occur due to the volume taken up by the shelves. That is, the elimination of shelving allows the electronic modules to be mounted substantially close to one another for optimizing the number of electronic modules that may be disposed within an electronic cabinet.
A potential difficulty associated with not utilizing shelving is that when especially heavy electronic modules are being mounted more than one person may be required. Prior to the electronic module becoming secured to the electronic enclosure cabinet, there is no support to maintain the electronic device at the desired height other than providing a person to lift and hold the electronic module. Depending on the weight of the electronic module, more than one person may be required to maintain the electronic module at the desired mounting location (e.g., one in the front of the cabinet and one in the rear of the cabinet). In addition to the person(s) supporting the electronic module at its desired mounting location, an addition person may be needed to insert the fasteners (e.g. bolts) through the mating mounting apertures and secure the fasteners (e.g., via a nut) to the mounting rails for securing the electronic module. The same difficulties arise for detaching the hardware from the electronic enclosure cabinet. Moreover, if testing is being performed involving multiple electronic devices being repeatedly swapped in and out of the electronic enclosure cabinet, then the multiple personnel assisting the operation must remain at the enclosure cabinet throughout this process. It would be desirable to reduce the need for such assistants.